Why I Suck.. Series 4, Episode 1.. Eddie Van Halen!

 “You'd think after all these years I'd know what I was doing. But I still don't f*cking know!”

Thus spake Eddie Van Halen in the first ever copy of Total Guitar magazine I ever acquired – April 1995, if memory serves – and it was followed by several pages of terrifying looking tablature with the promise that these examples would be demonstrated on the accompanying CD.. although at that point I was still two years off owning a CD player... anyway, I read through the interview, bright eyed and innocent and having absolutely no idea who this Eddie Van Halen guy was. Nirvana, Mel Bay Guitar Book 1, Oasis and the occasional bit of whatever showed up on Beavis and Butthead were my reference points back then.

When I eventually commandeered the family CD player to hear how these examples should be played, I almost fell over from shock. That COULDN'T be a guitar, could it? The blazing tapped arpeggios, squealing harmonics that tested the upper edge of the human ear, the ferocious attitude that permeated every lick.. it's fair to say I was impressed.

Of course, there is a fairly high technique barrier to playing most EVH stuff, and after a botched attempt at “Panama” from some slightly dubious tablature, I put it n the back burner – there were more pressing things to practice, coursework for college plus I was now in my first ever regularly gigging semi-pro band.. plus it was the 90s, it wasn't cool to widdle.

Over the years, “Jump” and “Eruption” have made it into the sets of both Guilty Pleasures and Dave The Rock Band, but I think Van Halen were much more of an American phenomenon than a UK one, and outside of us guitar nerds, most normal people wouldn't recognise EVH in the way they might do with Slash. But what we are dealing with here is a guitarist who completely rewrote the rulebook and kicked up the ceiling of guitar technique, of what we thought could be done with a guitar. This is someone who is WELL overdue an investigation!

As is tradition, first a quick potted history: although EVH appeared, at first glance, the quintissential California guitar hero, he was in fact Dutch. Born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen in Amsterdam on January 26 1955, the family moved to Pasadena, California in 1962 (an interesting side note here is that their father Jan paid their passage by playing saxophone in the ship band, and the young Eddie and his brother Alex would perform too). Around age 6, both brothers began learning the piano – interestingly, despite his mother's preference for classical methods, Eddie would simply jam along with recordings of Bach and Mozart recitals, playing purely by ear! A measure of his innate musicality can be gained by analysing the keyboard playing on hits like “Jump” and “Why Can't This Be Love”, (for which I would refer the reader to my good friend and bandmate Leigh's channel here).

Both Alex and Eddie tried out a variety of instruments in their early formative years, with Eddie initially appearing to settle on drums while Alex went for guitar. However, after hearing Alex's rendintion of the Surfari's “Wipeout”, Eddie agreed they should swap- laying the foundation for the rhythm section that would power Van Halen. The two would form their first band, “The Broken Combs” in primary school, and it was their that bothe brothers really got a taste for live performance.

In 1972, coming toward the end of their school careers, the brothers formed the band Mammoth, bringing in notorious singer Dave Lee Roth two years later and changing the name to Van Halen. They were spotted by Gene Simmons of KISS at a show in LA in 1976, who helped them produce many of the songs that would make it onto the first album, Van Halen I, 1n 1978, bringing tracks like “Running With The Devil”, their turbocharged cover of “You Really Got Me” and of course, the jaw-dropping solo “Eruption” - which is where most of this month's examples come from. Having been brought to the wider world to riotous commercial and critical success, Eddie would go on to record the famous “Beat It” solo for Michael Jackson (featuring Steve Lukather on rhythm, so quite the line up!) - and I should include a note to the classic “Jump” from 1984 which remains the band's only number 1 single.

Right, history complete – for now, at any rate, as EVH definitely deserves another visit – let's get to the licks! Arriving during the post-Hendrix period and initially a contemporary of players like Jimmy Page in the later years of Zeppelin and the early part of Queen, EVH dropped like a bombshell. Even now, it still stands up as hugely impressive despite the legions of copycats his style inspired! So, we'll take a look at a few patterns that seem to underpin his playing on the first album.

You can't talk EVH without talking tapping – and yes, I know he didn't invent it, Brian May, Steve Hackett and Billy Gibbons are all variously credited with that, and Van Halen himself claims he saw it somewhere else and nicked the idea, but he is definitively the guy who the technique is associated with. The lick below shows the basic sextuplet tapped arpeggio idea that is used in Eruption, in this instance using an E minor chord (E, G , B). Eddie taps the B on the 12^th fret, pulls off to the E on the 5^th fret and hammers the G on the 8^th fret.

Now, if you're smart – and Eddie certainly was – it doesn't take much of a leap of logic to expand this to follow a chord pattern. I'm using the example chord pattern Em-C-G-D, mapping out the arpeggios to maximise the use of common tones between the chords – EGB for Em, CEG for C (so change the B to a C, keep the E & G static), GBD for G (so keep the G static, switch C to B and E to D) and finally D F# A for the D so keep the D static change B to A and G to F#) .. if this sounds confusing just wait for the demo video!

This approach mirrors that of a keyboard player or pianist seeking as smooth a path through a chord sequence as possible and this is almost certainly no coincidence given EVH's background in classical piano.

In the next example we're taking a look at a very different and guitar-centric approach – this is Eddie in full on 3 note per string shred mode, but he's not really adhering to any musical scale or arpeggio sequence, this is just the same shape slapped across all six strings and trusting that the end note will be the right one! This is used in “Jump” amongst others, and interestingly Pantera's Dimebag Darrell used the same idea in “Cowboys From Hell”.

This third example is a legato pattern that Eddie seemed to frequently gravitate towards. I first encountered it while learning “Eruption” where you could view it as being in A Dorian ( R 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 – A B C D E F# G), but it also crops up in Spanish Fly on the nylon string and even expanded to it's most insane stretches in “Ice Cream Man” where Eddie uses it with an arpeggio shape across the E and B strings.

In the final example, I want to talk about an often-overlooked part of the EVH style – natural harmonics. You're probably familiar with them as a technique but many players use them as a sound effect without really understanding how a harmonic relates to the underlying note.

The main “musical” harmonic node points are on the 12^th, 7^th and 5^th frets - the 12^th fret harmonic rings out an octave above the open string, so (assuming your intonation is correct) should be the same as the 12^th fret note. The 5^th fret rings out an octave higher, so the same as the 24^th fret (should you have one), and the 7^th fret rings out an octave above the 7^th fret, so for example 7^th fret on the G string is a D, so the harmonic will ring out as D an octave higher. 4^th fret will give you the same effect, so for example both note and harmonic will be a B but the harmonic an octave higher. 2^nd and 3^rd frets are the real squealers, that people like Vai and Satriani have made a career out of!

It's been a blast checking out these solos and I really do feel like I've filled in a missing bit of musical education, and even though I'm not a huge fan of Van Halen the band, EVH the guitarist was just breathtaking and it's been a real privelige to see inside his style – I look forward to coming back to revisit in due course!

Why I Suck... Series 3, Episode 12 - Slash!

 If I were to tell you that I spent a large portion of my early playing days trying to master the art of playing a Les Paul down by my knees, leant back at 45 degrees and with my hair falling across my face, would you believe me? Of course you would – chances are you did the same thing. Why? Saul Hudson, the pride of Stoke On Trent – better known as Slash – that's why.

I had a sunburst Epiphone Les Paul – because of Slash.

I once set my hair on fire (by mistake) – because of Slash. (Cigarettes aren't cool, kids)

I played through Marshalls (ever tried wrestling a 4x12 cab into the back of an Austin Metro?) – until the fourth one on a row expired on me – because of Slash.

In fact, I'm going to posit that – possibly, possibly not - after Hendrix, Slash is probably THE most influential guitar player on the planet. Even more so than his fellow '80s icon, Eddie Van Halen (at least on this side of the Atlantic).

So it's well after time that we take a look into the instantly identifiable phenomenally influentual style of the “saviour of the Gibson Les Paul” - and I'll be honest, in 222, I've been in deep with the absolute best of the best, Vai, Satriani, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci.. I had to wonder, would my childhood hero hold up?

Yes. Yes he did. I'm happy to say Slash's playing is like the Mona Lisa – the closer you get to it, the better it gets. The more in detail I got transcribing his solos, the more I learnt and the more I appreciated. Sometimes, you should meet your heroes (metaphorically, at least).

First, a quick potted history – go check out “Slash”, the eponymous autobiography released in 2007. There are a lot – a LOT – of drug stories in there, regrettably rather little on learning the guitar but still.. one story that stayed with me is the re-recording of “Sweet Child O'Mine” after buying the famous Gibson Les Paul clone after laying down the initial tracks with a BD Rich that simply wasn't up to the job - essentially, our hero had to re-record the ENTIRE SONG.. in one take... with no click. Think about that for a second. I'd need a drink after that. Short version – born near Stoke to artist father and fshion designer mother, moved to LA around 5 years old, picked up the guitar about 14 after being exposed to a combination of Aerosmith, marijuana and the desire to get his end away in the space of a single afternoon, and then attempted to form a band with his friend Steven Adler. Intially Adler was going to be the guitarist and Slash on bass, but after seeing his teacher perform “Brown Sugar” decided to move to guitar – interestingly, Slash cites Jeff Beck as his biggest influence, and as I write this, I've just caught the sad news of his passing at age 78. I think that being the guitarist who all your heroes (including my old sensei from Access To Music, Brian Thompson) look up to is probably the most appropriate tribute to his unique and phenomenal talent. Rest in peace Jeff, and thank you for everything you showed us.

But far more interesting than the history are the licks, right? Never mind the drug stories that may or may not be true – we want to know how he does what he does – and trust me, Slash knows a LOT more than you might think. No one plays with that level of creativity without having a decent level of understanding of how it all works. I normally copy and paste how such & such a player uses the minor & major pentatonics.. but with Slash we need to dial in the blues scale, the Dorian mode, natural minor, and harmonic minor (R 2 b3 4 5 b6 7) as well as these regularly contribute to his sound. Not that you can always tell, as Axl was fond of wailing, screeching, or faking an orgasm over some of the REALLY good bits.

And yes, I will be showing you the flash bit from “Sweet Child O'Mine”. One thing I want to point out, however, is the difference that gear makes. Slash playing a Les Paul – which is a big, hefty slab of mahogany, promoting a more solid, thoughtful, playing style – is radically different to EVH (who I'm covering next month) on a Strat copy.. light, easy to throw around... plus have you tried tapping on a Les Paul? That pickup switch gets right in the way – so tapping is conspicuous by it's absence from Slashs technique, whereas it forms a constituent part of Eddie's. Who's best? Depends on where you're looking at it from, and what you're looking for!

OK, so, licks. Let's get this out of the way by getting the flash bit out of Sweet Child – God knows I've been asked about this enough! Here, Slash plays over the build on A power chord, making heavy use of the D# from the E harmonic minor scale (R 2 b3 4 5 b6 7 – E F# G A B C D#) to create tension. I'll demonstrate the various fingerings on the YouTube companion video, but from a theory point of view it's worth looking at the chord sequence that precedes this lick – Em, C, B7, Am. Em – EGB, C – CEG, B7 – B D# F# A, Am – ACE. None of these chords contain the D natural that you would find in the E natural minor scale which is the relative minor to the G major (or D Mixolydian) chord sequence that powers the verse. The next part of the song is where it modulates to E minor – Em, G, Am, C , D – and that's where he reverts to good old E minor pentatonic. What I think is really interesting about this lick is it's sheer technical complexity, and the fact that it's almost hidden in plain sight, as a bridge between two sections. Although we don't tend to think of Slash as a technical player in the manner of a Satriani, Vai or Malmsteen... he clearly can cut it in their league, and little flourishes like this are hidden all over Appetite For Destruction almost as “Easter eggs” for those who really want to get in depth with his approach.

Speaking of “Sweet Child..” - if you're reading this, you almost certainly know how to play the riff, but have you ever thought of how it came to be? Essentially, it's born from an arpeggio – Slash visualises a D shape, moved up an octave. The start note then moves to fit the chord it's played over – D (root) over the D chord, E (3^rd) over the Cadd9, G (root) over the G chord and back to D again. There also seems to be some controversy over whether the song is in D or G – technically G is more correct, but it's more accurate to say D Mixolydian, the 5^th mode of the G major scale and having a flattened 7^th relative to the D major scale.

So there.

One of my absolute favourite solo's -by anyone, really - is Slash's wah-drenched opus on “Mr. Brownstone”, and this next example is him in full flight, showcasing his “blues on steroids” approach. We're in F# minor pentatonic but notice Slash dials in the 2^nd (G#) in the pick up and in the little “pick, hammer, pull, pull” legato flurry that is a classic Slash-ism. Check out the way he manipulates the “3 magic notes” concept and develops it – very similar to the approach of a Clapton or Hendrix but just going a step further.. without getting into 3 note per string 80s shred territory. There are a LOT of subtleties to be found in Slash's playing when he's really in the zone.

Motivic development is another very musical idea Slash frequently builds solos around, and this happens in the first solo in Paradise City – he plays the initial pattern on the B and E strings before moving the same pattern, with fingerings adjusted to follow the contours of the A minor pentatonic scale before rounding things off with a filthy sounding blues scale run. Pick this one hard and really go for it!

The final example is from Paradise City's end solo – I covered the insane sounding chromatic widdly bit in a One Minute Lick a few weeks ago, but I saved this little gem! This is another use of G Mixolydian – G, C, F, C, G.. so the I, IV and V from the C major scale but using the G as its main chord. Slash is using a hybrid scale here mixing major and minor pentatonics to create the interval pattern R 2 b3 3 4 5 6 b7 (G A Bb B C D E F). He ascends using a sextuplet pattern and descends sequencing in 4s. This is a tremendously useful pattern, worth practicing in every key and building the tempo gradually with a metronome.

I have to say, it's been a blast revisiting these solos, this was all the sort of stuff I aspired to when I first got started and I'm very pleased to say that there is much I can still learn from Mr. Hudson – don't let the image or the rock & roll affectations distract you from the fact that Slash was, is, and will hopefully remain for many years, one HELL of a guitar player. And for all that I think he's possibly the most iconic and influential rock guitarist ever, I can't honestly think of anyone who sounds like him!

Onto another 80s icon next month, a long overdue look at the sadly late, but undoubtedly great Eddie Van Halen! Two 80s icons back to back – makes you want to break out the hairspray..

Why I Suck... Series 4! The Plan....

 So, Year One (2020) of this project was all about delving deep into the “back story” of the electric guitar, looking at the playing of the blues greats.. then in 2021 I cast the net a little wider, encompassing one of my personal heroes in Neil Zaza, YouTube stars Sophie Lloyd and Andertons' Danish Pete, and last year focused on some of the top-flight greats responsible for the tracks I've been learning for my next performance diploma. So as to where to go from there? Well, I figured I'd ask you lot!

So with the votes counted and combining your suggestions with my own ideas and a few familiar faces, here's the plan for 2023!

January – Eddie Van Halen.

February – Mark Tremonti

March – Rory Gallagher

April – Eric Clapton (post Cream)

May – Brad Paisley

June – SRV (finish Couldn't Stand The Weather)

July – Hendrix (Axis: Bold As Love)

August – Buckethead (should be interesting!)

September – John Mayer

October – Angus Young

November – Zakk Wylde

December – Dave Gilmour

So there we go, should be fun! A few names there I know shamefully little about (John Mayer, Mark Tremonti) a possibly certifiable shred demon (Buckethead), the guy who first dropped my jaw and showed me there was more to the guitar than Nirvana and Oasis riffs (Rory Gallagher) as well as a few returning names and some of my all time heroes. Very much a classic rock focus on this year's list then, but I always relish a little Nashville twang and Brad Paisley should provide that in spades!

As always, you can find all the accompanying videos in the Style Analysis section of the YouTube channel - don't forget to Like, Share & Subscribe (even if I frequently forget to mention it in the videos themselves...)... I'm planning some new stuff for the channel too, currently I'm learning my way around GIMP and Da Vinci Resolve in the hope of sprucing up my video skills. In fact, I don't plan to be doing much recording this year, #TUNEICEF aside, because of that, and there's a new book that may be in the offing towards the end of the year if the wind is with me... meantime you can find Two Pint Solos (and it's FREE backing track companion here, and 2022's Heartbreak For Dummies here.

So that's me sorted – what are your playing goals for 2023? Although the way this decade has played out so far I think we can expect an alien invasion some time around March... still, fingers crossed! I'm off to blow the dust off the Les Paul s there's a certain top hatted individual awaiting a style analysis... Happy New Year all!

Why I Suck... Series 3, Episode 11 - Stevie Ray Vaughan Pt. III

 The weather out there is frightful.. but playing the blues can be so delightful... and we find ourselves taking another look at the unmistakeable style of the one and only Stevie Ray Vaughan! Last year I polished off the remaining tracks on his debut album “Texas Flood”, as well as the utterly gorgeous “Little Wing”, so this year I cracked on with his second studio album with Double Trouble, 1984's “Couldn't Stand The Weather”.

This album saw SRV start to experiment with grooves and styles distinct from the 12 bar format more so than on “Texas Flood”, most notably with the title track, but also included a pedal to the metal cover of Hendrix's “Voodoo Chile” along with an absolutely epic 9 minute minor blues in the shape of “Tin Pan Alley” and some startlingly convincing jazz work on “Stan's Swang” - and of course let's not overlook the absolutely blistering open string work on the opening track “Scuttle Buttin'” that famously even had Metallica's Kirk Hammett shaking in his boots!

We've already covered the history of SRV's tragically cut short life in his first entry here so I'll let you go back and reread that (and this one) – meanwhile let's take a deep dive into some of the playing on this album!

For the first example, I've outlined the riff to “Scuttle Buttin'” - well, I couldn't leave this out, could I? Here you're dealing with the open string blues scale and don't discount the difficulty open strings present – quite often this sees players struggle wth their hand synchronisation as the picking hand is working while the fretting hand isn't, so go slowly and you may find that making small “micro movemets” with the fret hand while you're picking theopen strings can help alleviate this problem. Also, SRV would regularly switch articulation between bends, slides and pull offs so feel free to experiment with the basic shape of the riff. I'll be expanding on this in the demo video.

In this second example, we're taking a look at an often-overlooked aspect of SRVs playing – his rhythm work. Although feted – rightly – as a brilliant lead player, SRV had a phenomenal sense of groove and in the rhythm figure for the title track “Couldn't Stand The Weather” Stevie Ray got his groove on and then some. We can summarise the harmony as being roughly a Dm7 – but check out everything going on here, octaves, muted 16ths, bends.. this is a terrific riff to work those rhythm chops up to speed. Essential here is keeping your pick hand moving in a constant 16^th note rhythm, just moving it away from the strings to create gaps in the rhythm and using fret hand muting to keep the chord voicings clean and free from unwanted open strings ringing out and messing up the clarity of the part.

The third example is taken from the cover of Eddie Jones' “Things (That) I Used To Do” in the key of G and of particular note here is SRV's use of the 2^nd (A) above the usual minor pentatonic/ blues scale note palette, used in the turnaround to imply the V chord – in this case, a D7, of which A is the chords' 5^th. There's a lovely bit of chromaticism here as well, A-Ab-G, all connected by a wonderfully greasy slide/pull off combination.

For our final example, we'll turn our attention to “Tin Pan Alley” by Robert Geddins which gave SRV the chance to showcase just what he could do with a slow minor key blues (in C minor, specifically). There is an absolute truckload of great playing to choose from here – I've picked a lick that comes in about 1.50, utilising the 2^nd position blues scale (you may also recognise the Dm-shape Cm arpeggio shape inside that pattern) and also brings in the 6^th from the major pentatonic (A). This creates a neat diminished 7 arpeggio – C, Eb (b3 from the blues scale), Gb (b5 from the blues scale and A – C Eb Gb A, R b3 b5 bb7. Theres some wonderfully delicate legato work here too, and check out the hybrid picked double stop to finish off as SRV resolves the b5 into the natural.

So that wraps things up for this month, keep an eye on the YouTube channel for the demo video and get the Les Paul ready for next month's as we cover Stoke-On-Trent's favoured son, the one and only Saul Hudson, aka Slash!

Why I Suck.. Series 3, Episode 10 - Paul Gilbert!

 OK, I was braced for this one. Anyone who's heard any of Paul Gilbert's stuff – whether that be solo, with Racer X or even just his aptly-named “Terrifying..” guitar videos on YouTube – will be well aware that this guy is a straight up lunatic. Technically flawless and utterly fearless, Paul's playing really is “more is more” with a MASSIVE grin on it's face! By this point I'd already tackled Godfather of Shred Yngwie Malmsteen, not to mention G3 core Satch, Vai & Johnson and the prog rock insanity of John Petrucci, so I wasn't scared, I was wired for this! And let's not forget YouTube's handy feature of slowing down to ¼ speed....

As is by now tradition, let's start with a little potted history. Born November 6^th 1966 (happy 56^th as I write this) in Ilinois, Paul began playing at just six years old, citing The Beatles as a major influence on him initially. This would be soon followed by Led Zeppelin introducing him to the iconic sound of a screaming distorted string bend! Guitar lessons followed but these didn't include string bends, being largely focused around sight reading and nursery rhymes (yep, been there!) – but a musical uncle showed him the way with this technique, and a further teacher introduced the young Paul to this technique, introducing him to Black Sabbath along the way.

As with many guitarists of his (and others) generation, one Eddie Van Halen's debut in 1978 would prove seminal, and learning “Eruption” with his teacher was a huge influence on Paul's technical development, to the point where by the age of 15 he was touring with his then band Tau Zero, had been featured in Guitar Player magazine (along wth a youg Swede named Yngwie Malmsteen) and felt confident enough to contact Mark Varney of the infamous Shrapnel Records to ask for a gig with Ozzy Osbourne! Now THAT would have been something.. Needless to say that never happened, but Varney was impressed enough to keep the youngster on his radar – side note, I did send a copy of Two Pint Solos to Shrapnel but I can only assume it must have been too commercial for them... 😢- and this would eventually lead to Paul's relocation to LA and his famous tenure at the Guitar Institute of Technology. Enrolled at 17, by 19 he had graduated and been hired as an instructor!

Whilst teaching at GIT, Gilbert formed Racer X and acquired unsung hero Bruce Bouillet who demonstrated an uncanny ability to harmonise Paul's signature wide interval string skipping sequences – tracks from this era include Scarified and Technical Difficulties (and we'll be taking a couple of looks at the latter), and when this band split having effectively hit a career brick wall as no major label was ineterested, Gilbert formed Mr Big with bassist Billy Sheehan who had recently left David Lee Roth's solo band. They achieved notable success with singles “Green Tinted Sixties Mind” (BRILLIANT riff, demonstrated here) and “To Be With You” before splitting in 1996. Since then, Gilbert has pursued a solo career interspersed with Racer X & Mr Big reunions, carving out a nihe as a phenomenal shredder and building on his teaching experience with his online guitar school.

With the history lesson thus concluded, let's take a look at some licks! Although famed for his frankly staggering technical expertise, Gilbert's sense of melody, harmony and above all fun is apparent through every recording and despite the obvious technical challenges I've really enjoyed this month's assignment! We'll begin with this excerpt from the outro of the 2011 re-recording of Racer X's “Technical Difficulties”:

 - in this example, Paul takes the E natural minor scale and maps 3 note per-string fingerings all across the fretboard using the “stacked six” pattern previously discussed when we looked at Sophie Lloyd. Students of mine will recognise the “scale fragment” approach taken here, interlocking 6 note fingerings mapped across the neck. Check out my book “Progressive Guitar Training” for more ideas on how to incorporate these ideas into your playing.

Arpeggios play a major part in Paul's playing, but unlike Yngwie a few months back, sweep picking doesn't seem to be a major part of his playing, instead preferring to stick to alternate picking and generating the wide intervals through string skipping. Here I've tabbed out the basic major pattern, and shown how Paul will extend this using tapped and slid notes – and as a bonus, tweaked it to deal with minor arpeggios. All about value here.

Staying with arpeggios, this is another section from the 2011 “Technical Difficulties”, showing more of a conventional approach to arpeggios, following the chord sequence with the triad along with added 2^nd and 4^th intervals at blistering speed using alternate picking and pull offs. This is similar to licks played by Jimmy Page in "Dazed & Confused" and Iron Maiden's Dave Murray, or even the end of Hotel California... just on steroids.

Finally, let's wrap things up with some good ol' fashioned WIDDLE! Much of Paul's faster playing is based around repetitive scale fragments with legato, similar to Shawn Lane – this last example makes use of the E natural minor using a six note fragment based on the B Phrygian mode and illustrates how these fragments can be looped and repeated to create a blistering barrage of notes!

Right, after that lot I'm going to apply an ice pack to my fingers and chill with some Pink Floyd.. keep an eye on the YouTube channel (remember the holy trinity of Like, Share & Subscribe...) for the demo video in a few days time before we move back to the Texas Tornado himself, Stevie Ray Vaughan!

Why I Suck.. Series 3, Episode 9 - Brent Mason!

 Yee-ha, y'all. Yes, this month we're going down Nashville way... and full disclosure here, I have a HUGE soft spot for the type of “hot country” playing exemplified by Nashville virtuosos like Brad Paisley, Albert Lee (incongruously enough a Brit) and the subject of this month's post, Brent Mason. There's something about the twang of a Telecaster through a Fender Twin, double stop bends, chicken-pickin' and sixths that just makes me grin like a lunatic.. so I'd been looking forward to this one.

First a little on the man himself. Born July 13, 1959 in Van Wert, Ohio, Brent taught himself to ply at a very young age - various sources state five, although in interviews Brent says seven or eight, but he began entirely by ear. In an interview for Premier Guitar from 2007 he states that he used a table knife on an old nylon-string guitar, playing slide and picking out melodies and licks by ear. In the same interview he lists Chet Atkins and Merle Travis as early interviews, as well as a Jerry Reed album called “Nashville Underground” which he cites as a real eye-opener.. so yeah, expect that to crop up in next year's blog at some point. Remember, if you want to get inside the style of a player you admire, go check out who influenced them.

In fact.... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiVNfZmNYxSMxV_DIhGlSTbLQgayhVRhK

You're welcome.

In his mid-to late teenage years (there seems to be some confusion about exactly when), Mason moved to the electric guitar – in a 2020 interview with Guitar Player magazine he cites his first electric guitar as a Hagstrom Swede, bought for him by his dad aged fifteen.

Interestingly, if correct, this is an archtop jazz guitar, about as far removed from the Tele twang as if he'd been given a Charvel...

Changing from nylon to electric broadened Brent's horizons to include jazz and rock players like Pat Martino, George Benson and Jeff Beck -  (who would have been releasing Blow By Blow at around about that point) – and you can here that influence on the beautiful track “Cayman Moon” which a lot of this months' examples are taken from.

After graduating from high school, Mason moved to Nashville to pursue a career in country music, and his first break came with the Don Kelley Band, a working Nashville cover outfit. It was with this band that he would make the jump to the Telecaster, acquiring a secondhand one covered with grey car primer.. this guitar would form the basis for his Fender signature model many years later, which you can pick up for (brace yourself) £8,500..

A stiff drink, and now back to the story.

The big break came when the legendary Chet Atkins was recording his “Stay Tuned” album which would include guest spots by Larry Carlton, Steve Lukather, Mark Knopfler, George Benson and more. This album came out in 1985, so this would put Mason at around 25. This put him on the fast track to a wildly successful session career, playing on well over a thousand records by a huge range of artists and making him (along with Larry Carlton) one of the most widely recorded and heard guitarists in history. In 1997 he signed to Mercury records and recorded his album Hot Wired, and the title track being specified by the Registry of Guitar Tutors as one of their tracks for the the FLCM performance diploma.. which is where I came in!

Hot Wired album onYouTube:

So we'll leave the history lesson there and start looking at some of the licks.

I've taken this first pair of examples from the ferocious chicken-pickin' tour de force that is the title track, “Hot Wired” and can broadly be regarded as being in A Mixolydian (R 2 3 4 5 6 b7 – A B C# D E F# G). We kick off with the classic country technique of major sixth intervals moving down the scale, and I would recommend hybrid picking these with the pick playing the G string note and the middle finger pulls the high E. The second part of the run moves down the B and G strings from F# to A, alternating a conventionally fretted note with a muted one. This is the classic “chicken-pickin” technique which can be performed by picking the string as normal and alternating it with a note picked with the middle finger on the pick hand curled round to mute it. This gives a clucking sound similar to (guess what) a chicken, and is a hallmark of hot country players like Mason.

The second example follows straight on and illustrates a bluegrass – inspired chromatic lick in open position. You can see the five note pattern that starts off the line before it mutates into a blur of chromaticism before resolving to the root note A.

The second two examples are from “Cayman Moon” in Eb and illustrate the jazzier side of Mason's playing. This phrase is based largely around an Ab arpeggio (the IV chord of the key), and decorated with chromatic passing notes before resolving down a second inversion Eb triad to end up on the G (the 3^rd). Note the use of hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides to smooth the line out.

This final example follows the same idea, being based seemingly on the Bb blues scale but leans heavily on non-diatonic notes being emphasised and given vibrato – the Gb, the A, the B – before once again resolving it's way down the same second inversion Eb arpeggio.

As always, we've barely scratched the surface of the incredible playing of this month's subject, but I do urge you to dive in and give him a listen – and if you're unfamiliar with the dizzying breakneck speed licks of the hot country genre, get listening! It's hugely entertaining from a listening and playing point of view nd will only help your development.

Next month – Shred legend Paul Gilbert, so make sure you're warmed up!

Why I Suck... Series 3, Episode 8 - Shawn Lane!

 OK, confession... Shawn Lane was a big guy and I had planned to make a few tongue-in-cheek jokes about “a giant of the instrument” “crushed by the weight of his own talent” - but then I read his story and chanced upon a tragic story of ill health and talent gone far, far too soon. Which goes to show if you're going to make a fat joke, do your research, because there's every chance you're going to end up regretting it.

Born March 21, 1963, Lane would just make it to 40 before passing away September 26 2003. But despite his tragically short life, his musical accomplishments were off the scale. I thoroughly recommend out his album “Powers Of Ten” for the incredible breadth and depth of his musicality, and his technical command of the guitar was simply jaw-dropping.. liquid legato runs incorporating all manner of wide intervals and outside notes that he would somehow resolve and make sense of, played with a speed, accuracy and dexterity which makes Yngwie sound like... well, me.

Then you discover that he also was a blinding pianist. And that Powers Of Ten was recorded with Lane playing drums on the keyboard, inventing technique as he went along to create the sounds he heard in his mind. You can't even be jealous, really – it would be like a bacteria being jealous of Brian Cox.

Sadly, there was a dark side to this prodigious talent. Lane struggled with psoriasis, which as he moved into adolescence, morphed into psoriasitic arthritis, causing pain and inflammation in his joints – including whilst playing guitar. Hydrocortisone was used to treat these ailments, but this came with it's own problems – weight gain which developed into Cushing's Syndrome, a horrible condition where his metabolism essentially rebelled against him causing massive weight gain, loss of the body's ability to regulate itself, diabetes, sleep disorders and more besides. It sounds utterly miserable, and it was really the maladies associated with this that would end his life aged 40. A massive, tragic loss of a truly otherworldy talent – and it should be noted, he recorded “Powers Of Ten” follow up “The Tri-Tone Fascination” whilst in the grip of this condition. Check out his MIT live performances – it's clear he was already struggling, but his playing is simply phenomenal.

It's worth noting here that for most of his adult life, Lane was working as a freelance self employed musician, moving from gig to gig – crucially, this meant no health insurance. Which in the US, means you're pretty much on your own. Arguably, had he had access to an NHS or equivalent, he wouldn't have been left to self-medicate, might have had alternative treatments recommended.. and he might still be here today.. worth bearing in mind the next time you're grumbling about being called in for a check up.

Anyway, with that rather sad and all too short potted history, out of the way, let's take a look at some of the man's breathtaking guitar playing. All the licks below are taken from various versions of the classic track “Get You Back” - and the fact that you can learn so much from just one song is testament to the man's genius. So, deep breath, limber up with a few stretches and let's dive in!

This first example is based around an E major arpeggio (the V chord, as “Get You Back” is at least largely in the key of A) – the deft use of slides keeps things slippery and the wider intervals are particularly melodic and ear catching. Notice the perfect 5^th interval between the A and E notes at the very end of the lick – more typical of a classical violin piece.. and as it happens, in his REH tuition video, Shawn mentions spending time transcribing violin and flute classical pieces for guitar. So guess how I'll be spending my evenings from now on.

One thing that marked Lane out even during the hyper technical shred eras of the late 80s and early 90s was his absolutely monstrous speed and accuracy and in this second example you can see some of the legato groupings that helped him with this. I've slowed them down for mortal fingers but take note of the different rhythmic groups – in this instances, fives. Counting fives across a beat is quite difficult, so I use the word “opportunity” as it has five syllables in it. Match each note to a syllable and before too long this will start to feel natural.

The third example shows Lane in absolute Beast Mode, to the point where even at 0.25 speed I'm basically transcribing a blur! Here he's injecting a dose of chromaticism into his legato – more for dynamic effect than melodic, I think, a feeling of “shifting gear”. Again, some odd note grouping here – notice the group of 7, for which I use the phrase “what-an-opportunity” to be able to “feel” seven notes to the beat.

At this point, it would be tempting to dismiss Shawn Lane as all flash and no soul.

It's not true, but it's tempting.

However, he was just as (sickeningly) adept with a melodic phrase as he was with a jaw-dropping technical one, and in this last example we can see a signature melodic legato pattern – combining A major scale tones with an E6 arpeggio, and note the three against four rhythmic effect (known as a “hemiola”)

As always, we've really just scratched the surface here, but hopefully these are some concepts that will make their way into your own playing. Go check out YouTube to see the man's incredible talent – I really don't have enough superlatives to apply here!

Next month, dust off the Telecaster and the compressor, we're going down Nashville way for the lunatic genius of Brent Mason!